Delays, Delays

That's what Marvin the Martian used to say every time Bugs Bunny took his Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.  (Marvin, by the way, is one of my very favorite cartoon characters of all time.)

This time, the delays involve Ol' Bessy, my aging, ailing laptop.  She is getting slower and slower sometimes.  Scans are taking a bit longer.  My virus protection turned itself off, and i've had to re-download it because it wouldn't just update.

Malwarebytes took over an hour to do a "quick" scan, and she is overheating again at times.

Because i can't use the laptop much right now, i'm not sure when i'll be able to post more pictures of the kittens.  It's taken this first-cousin-to-a-Luddite this long just to figure out how to use the laptop to do it, and so there will be a delay while i see if i can figure it out on the other computer.

What she really needs, i've been told, is to be wiped clean and have Windows XP reloaded.  The problem, of course, is that i don't have an XP disk to use to do that.

And in other news, Young Jacob has been in a minor car accident.  Someone in our neighborhood ran a stop sign and hit him.  The man admitted his fault, and it was obvious to the Deputy that the other party was in the wrong.  No injuries, thank Heaven, but Young Jacob will be needing a rental, or rides to work.  Even without popping the hood he knew he needed a new bumper and radiator at least.


Today is:

Celtic Tree Month Nuin (Ash) begins

Clean Out Your Cubby Holes Day -- internet generated, but if you have any cubby holes, give them a look today, make sure nothing is in there you don't want to see

Cold Day in H*ll -- snow fell in the Sahara today in 1979

Day of Spenta Armaiti -- Zoroastrian (goddess of earth and fertility, especially celebrated by women; originally on Esfand 5th, which corresponds to 24 February, but is now celebrated on the 18th for reasons i can't figure out)

Family Day -- AB, ON, SK, Canada

Festival of Women -- Persian (traditional, it has been kept even among those who are no longer Zoroastrian)

Fly-By for Fairies and Elves -- Fairy Calendar

Hadaka Matsuri -- Inazawacho, Japan (thousands of loincloth-wearing men try to touch the closely guarded Shin-otoko [a man chosen, stripped naked, and shaved totally] as he is on his way to the shrine)

Independence Day -- Gambia(1965)

Islander Holiday -- PEI, Canada

Louis Riel Day -- MB, Canada

National Battery Day -- probably created by the battery manufacturers, but they won't claim it

National Crab Stuffed Flounder Day

Pluto Day/Solar System Day -- the planet/planetoid was discovered on this day in 1930, and then considered to "complete" the solar system

Presidents' Day -- US and Territories

Rastraya Prajatantra Dibas -- Nepal (Democracy Day)

Rites of Tacita -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of silence, rites to keep people from speaking out in anger)

Saidai-ji Eyo -- Saidai-ji, Okayama Prefecture, Japan (Spectacular and atmospheric naked festival dating back to the 14th century, in which up to 10,000 loincloth-wearing [and sometimes drunk] men battle for sacred wooden sticks [shingi] tossed into the air by priests.)

St. Bernadette of Lourdes' Day (in France; the remainder of the church celebrates her on 16 April)

St. Fra Angelico's Day (Patron of artists)

Tanigumi Odori -- Tanigumi-mura, Gifu Prefecture, Japan (dance festival)

Tara Puja -- Tibetan Buddhist

Thumb Appreciation Day


Anniversaries Today:

Ohio State University is chartered as the first US land-grant college, 1804



Birthdays Today:

Jillian Michaels, 1974
Molly Ringwald, 1968
Dr. Dre, 1965
Matt Dillon, 1964
Vanna White, 1957
John Travolta, 1954
John Hughes, 1950
Cybill Shedherd, 1950
Andrea Dromm, 1941
Yoko Ono, 1933
Milos Forman, 1932
Toni Morrison, 1931
Gahan Wilson, 1930
George Kennedy, 1925
Helen Gurley Brown, 1922
Bill Cullen, 1920
Jack Palance, 1920
Hans Asperger, 1906
Enzo Ferrari, 1898
George "The Gipper" Gipp, 1895
Boris Pasternak, 1890
Nikos Kazantzakis, 1883
Sholem Aleichem, 1859
Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1848
Ernst Mach, 1838
Count Alessandro Volta, 1745
Uesugi Kenshin, 1530 (Japanese samurai and warlord)
Mary I Tudor, 1516
Saint Jadwiga of Poland, 1374


Today in History:

Origin of the Kali Yuga Epoch ("age of vice" or Dark Age) of the Hindu/Buddhist calendars, BC3102
Jerusalem is taken by Emperor Frederik II, 1229
Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia, begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim regions, 1332
Henry Tudor (Henry VIII) created Prince of Wales, 1503
Zeeland falls to Dutch rebels, 1574
John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is published, 1678
Fort Saint Lewis, Texas, is founded by Frenchmen under LaSalle at Matagorda Bay, the basis for France's claim to Texas, 1685
Quakers conduct their first formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1688
The premiere of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, "Samson" takes place in London, 1743
Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, 1797
The Detroit Boat Club (still in existence) forms, 1839
The first continuous filibuster in the US Senate begins, lasts until March 11, 1841
The first regular steamboat service to California begins, 1849
A direct telegraph link between Britain and New Zealand is established, 1876
Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is published, 1885
The Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for the first time in 50 years, 1896
Winston Churchill makes his first speech in the British House of Commons, 1901
H. Cecil Booth patents a dust removing suction cleaner, 1901
The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet delivers 6,500 letters to Naini (a distance of about 10K), 1911
The US and Canada begin formal diplomatic relations, with the appointment of Vincent Massey as the first Canadian ambassador to the US, 1927
The first Academy Awards are announced, 1929
While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto, 1930
The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California, 1954
The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747, 1977
Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history, 1979
Dan Jansen skates world record 1000m (1:12.43), 1994