So passes...

...another hero.

Some are splashy and want to make sure everyone knows what they have done.  This man did not.

His name was George Lowe, and he was the last surviving member of the team that became the first to climb Mt. Everest.

He also was on the first team to make a successful overland crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole.

He was an adventurer and photographer, who did that on his time off from being a school teacher.  He also made documentary films of those two expeditions.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Lowe.  May your adventures continue.


Today is:

Ancient Roman Calendar Celebrations on this date
     Day of Mouring -- leading up to the festival for Hilaria
     Invocation Day of Mars and Saturn
     Tubilustrium -- Ancient Roman Calendar (ceremony to purify the trumpets used in sacred ceremonies)

Clear Lake Crawfish Festival -- Clear Lake, TX, US (crawfish and gumbo and fun)

Cuddly Kitten Day -- because the cats can't let the dogs get all the attention

Dandelion Dance -- Fairy Calendar

Day of Hungarian-Polish Friendship -- Hungary and Poland

Day of the Sea -- Bolivia (Dia del Mar)

Earth Hour -- 8:30pm-9:30pm, your local time; turn off your lights to take a stand against climate change

Hatsume Fair -- Morikami Museum and Japanese Garden, Delray Beach, FL, US (celebrating the culture and beauty of Japan; through tomorrow)

Keep Norfolk Beautiful Day -- Norfolk, VA, US (citywide volunteer cleanup effort)

Lazarouvane -- Bulgaria ("St. Lasarus' Day, but has little to do with the saint; a Slavic festival of youth and fertility in which the young girls who've reached marrying age "come out")

Liberty Day -- today in 1775, Patrick Henry said, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”

Lieldienas -- Ancient Latvian Calendar ("Big Days" or "Long Days", four day celebration of spring, each day devoted to a different deity)

National Chip and Dip Day

National Melba Toast Day

National Puppy Day -- encouraging you to adopt a shelter pup today

Near Miss Day -- commemorates the mountain sized asteroid that was a near miss on this day in 1989

Rally for Decency Day -- Commemorates the first Rally for Decency, prompted on this day in 1969 by Jim Morrison

Republic Day -- Pakistan

St. Turibius de Mongrovejo's Day (Patron of Latin American bishops, native rights; Peru)

The Head of the River Race -- Mortlake to Putney, River Thames, London, England (traditional processional race between eight-oared crews)

Toast Day -- supposedly for the invention of Melba toast; a recent article says it takes 6 steps to toast bread "right"; i say if you can't put bread in the toaster and butter it when it comes out and need long sets of instructions, you shouldn't be let loose in society!

Tsechu Festival -- Paro, Bhutan (religious celebration in honor of Padmasambhava, with colorfully dressed monks performing masked rituals; through the 27th)

World Meteorological Day -- UN


Anniversaries Today:

The University of California is founded in Oakland, California, 1868


Birthdays Today:

Michelle Monaghan, 1976
Keri Russell, 1976
Chaka Khan, 1953
Roger Bannister, 1929
Wernher Von Braun, 1912
Akira Kurosawa, 1910
Joan Crawford, 1905


Today in History:

Eighteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 1066
The first dated edition of Maimonides "Mishna Torah" published, 1490
George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" premieres in London, 1743
Patrick Henry delivers his famous speech – "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" – at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, 1775
After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home, 1806
Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City, 1857
The Boers and Britain sign a peace accord that ends the First Boer War, 1881
President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement starting on April 22, starting a Land Run, 1889
The Wright Brothers apply for a patent on their invention of one of the first successful airplanes, 1903
Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world, 1956
NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young), 1965
Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans, 1980
Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President, 1996
The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji, 2001