A Little Early

Daylight Saving Time will end in early November in our part of the world.

So, why am i mentioning this now?

Well, there is an article in the BBC news about a couple in Essex, England, who almost were driven batty and even tore walls out of their home looking for the source of a beeping noise that simply would not stop,

When the husband finally found it, it was a long-forgotten smoke alarm in a desk drawer.  The battery was finally giving out.

This year, when you change your clocks, spare yourself the nuisance beeping (and possibly save your family from a fire) by changing all of your smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detector batteries.  If you go ahead and change them yearly on a schedule, you won't have to go through such a thing.

Okay, all very well and good, i can hear someone say, but why mention it halfway into October?

If you are anything like me, you don't have enough batteries on hand, so you have to remember to put them on your list, then remember to take your list with you to the store, and that will probably require at least two week notice before remembering all of that.

(You see, it's not for no reason that i am called "messy" -- my brain is a very messy place indeed, especially when i am trying to recall what's on my grocery list when i left it at home, again.)

Go put batteries on your list, and write a reminder on your calendar now.

Otherwise, don't blame me if your smoke alarm or other warning device starts to noisily demand immediate attention.


Today is:

Boss' Day -- either celebrate, or roll your eyes, both are acceptable responses (begun by Patricia Bays Haroski in 1958 in honor of her boss, who was also her father; this date was his birthday)

Chrysanthemum Festival -- Japan ("The Festival of Happiness", various shrines; through Nov. 15)

Clean Your Bug Zapper Day -- internet generated, and we're getting a bit overboard here, aren't we?

Day of Pope John Paul II -- Poland

Dictionary Day -- Noah Webster's birth anniversary

Elephantine Festival -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (several such celebrations of elephants were held around this time of year in Egypt)

Ether Day (first demonstrated use, see History)

Feast of 'Ilm (Knowledge) -- Baha'i

National Feral Cat Day -- US (sponsored by Alley Cat Allies)

National Liqueur Day

Navaratri Dusserha -- Hindu (Festival of Dirva, wife of Shiva; through the 23rd)
     Ghatasthapana -- Nepal

Niihama Drum Festival -- Niihama, Japan (three day festival with two ton drum floats)

Sennin Musha Gyoretsu -- Tochigi, Japan (procession of 1,000 warriors; through tomorrow)

St. Hedwig's Day (Patron of brides, duchesses, difficult marriages, widows; Bavaria; Berlin, Germany; Gorlitz, Germany; Silesia; against the death of children, jealousy)

Teachers' Day -- Chile

World Food Day -- International


Anniversaries Today:

Girton College, Cambridge is founded, becoming England's first residential college for women, 1869
Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah, 1875


Birthdays Today:

John Mayer, 1977
Kellie Martin, 1975
Flea, 1962
Tim Robbins, 1958
Suzanne Somers, 1946
Angela Lansbury, 1925
Eugene O'Neill, 1888
Oscar Wilde, 1854
Noah Webster, 1758


Today in History:

Jadwiga (yes, a she) is crowned King of Poland, 1384
Olivier van Noorts' ships reach the Philippines, 1600
George Washington takes Yorktown, 1781
Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is guillotined, 1793
Sir William Rowan Hamilton comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers, 1843
Dentist William T. Morton demonstrates the effectiveness of ether, 1846
Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" is published, 1847
John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, 1859
The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered", 1869
John Harwood takes out a patent on a self-winding watch, 1923
The Disney Company is founded, 1923
Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army, 1940
Fidel Castro is sentenced in Havana to 15 years in prison, 1953
The People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon, 1964
In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act, 1970
Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1973
Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave, 1978
Wanda Rutkiewicz is the first Pole and the first European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1978
Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
Reinhold Messner becomes the first person to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders, 1986
Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated, 2002