Win All Around

"Look what The Boss was going to throw away today!"  Sweetie drove up and got out of the car just as i went out to bring in the garbage can, and he called me over to the trunk to show me a box.

This usually means my archaeologist husband has "rescued" some "treasure" which will sit around our house, getting in the way, so i wasn't very enthused as i walked over.

"We ran across this stuff today, and The Boss told me to get rid of it, no one there needs it.  I about passed out when I saw it, and asked if I could take it all and give it to John G instead of tossing it out.  The Boss said that was fine, as long as it was gone.  Here, look at this!"  He opened the box.

John G is a local photographer, among other things.  He and Sweetie have been friends for years, and he knows John's passions for ancient Egypt, and old cameras.  In the plain cardboard box was a treasure trove.

Cameras.  Several old cameras.  All of them in perfect condition.  Including the Brownie and the very old Polaroid Land Camera.  The one with the billows lens that uses photographic plates.  Probably dates back to the early 40s.

All of it beautiful, just waiting for a collector, which John G happens to be.

My archaeologist strikes again, and this time i don't have to find room for it in my house, a win all around.

Today is:

Biezputras Diena (Porrige Day) -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (date unconfirmed, some sites suggest it's always on a Sunday before Feb. 23 instead)

Constitution Day -- Mexico (obs.)

Create-A-Vacuum Day -- an internet generated celebration of the nothingness of vacuums

General Thaddeus Kosciuszko Day -- Poland (birth anniversary)

Homemade Soup Day

Hurling the Silver Ball -- St. Ives, Cornwall, England (keeping up the over 1,000 year old tradition of an early form of rugby, the person who returns the silver ball to the Mayor on the steps of St. Ives Guildhall at midday gets a silver coin; pennies are thrown to the children in the afternoon)

Independence Day -- Sri Lanka

Just Say No to PowerPoint Week begins -- please, use something else, like communicating with your audience!

King Frost Day -- London (Celebrated yearly until WWI, in remembrance of the frozen River Thames on this day in 1814.)

Liberation Day -- Angola

National Stuffed Mushroom Day

Quacker Day -- for those who love Quacker Factory clothes

Spoiled Cats' Day -- internet generated, and isn't this every day?

St. Andrew Corsini's Day (Patron of Carmelites; against civil disorder and riots)

St. John de Brito's Day (Patron of Portugal; Sivagangai, India)

Tapati Festival -- Rapa Nui (Easter Island) through the 14th

Thank A Mailperson Day -- because someone decided it would be a good day to do that, and put it on the internet

USO Day -- US (founded this date in 1941)

World Cancer Day -- details here


Anniversaries Today:

The University of Wisconsin is established, with one classroom and 20 students, 1849


Birthdays Today:

Natalie Imbruglia, 1975
Oscar De La Hoya, 1973
Lawrence Taylor, 1959
Alice Cooper, 1948
Dan Quayle, 1947
George A. Romero, 1940
David Brenner, 1936
Betty Friedan, 1921
Ida Lupino, 1918
Rosa Parks, 1913
Clyde W. Tombaugh, 1906
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906
Charles Lindbergh, 1902


Today in History:

The Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta, 211
The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries, 960
Maximilian I assumes the title Holy Roman Emperor without being crowned, 1508
Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler meet for the first time near Prague 1600
In Edo (now Tokyo), The 47 Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) after avenging the death of their master, 1703
The worst earthquake in 8 years in Calabria, Italy, leaves 50,000 dead, 1783
The first Anglican bishops of New York and Pennsylvania are consecrated in London, 1787
George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College, 1789
The French National Convention proclaims the abolishment of slavery, 1794
An earthquake in Quito, Ecuador, kills 41,000, 1797
J.W. Goodrich introduces his rubber galoshes to the public, 1824
The Mormons of Nauvoo, Missouri, leave to go west, eventually settling in Utah, 1846
The Codex Sinaiticus is found at the Greek Monastery of Mount Sinai, 1859
The first rolling lift bridge opens, in Chicago, 1895
The first Winter Olympics games close at Chamonix, France, 1924
The first tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks open, in New Orleans, 1930
Radium E is the first radioactive substance to be produced synthetically, 1936
The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops, 1941
Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft, 1967
After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections, 1997
Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg, 2004
The Federal Court of Australia's ruling in Roadshow Films v iiNet sets a precedent that Internet service providers (ISPs) are not responsible for what their users do with the services the ISPs provide them, 2010