Important?

So, there's strife in the Middle East, not the usual undercurrent or bit of a boil-over, but people fleeing chemical weapons attacks and Israel calling up reserves and passing out gas masks to citizens.  And when i go to Yahoo! to sign in and check email the first thing up on the site that passes for "news" is about a Hollywood couple and whether they are on again or off again.

Really.  So i checked a few other sites, and only a couple of them have the Syria crisis as the first thing you see.

What's important?  Jiminy Crickets, i know i'm not the sharpest tack in the package, but even i can say that the fact that this could degenerate into attacks that provoke more attacks and end up as a major war is a bit higher in importance than who is boinking whom in Hollywood, or even than the "news" that passes for headlines in the local area.

Are we so calloused, or are we just so focused on being entertained?  Either way, i don't like the implications of the answers.

Please don't misunderstand and think i am saying we need to be serious all of the time.  There is a time and place for local highlights, for interesting or odd happenings that aren't so deadly serious, and even for entertainment.  But what passes for news now is so often not the important things.

While i cannot read the news all of the time, it would make me sick and upset and a nervous wreck, i do check the headlines and read a few things at least once a day.  Because i don't watch TV at all, i get most of my news by reading, either a newspaper or online, or hearing it on the radio.  Maybe i'm getting the whole thing wrong, but most of what seems to make up the news is fluff or simply not that important.

Somebody correct me if i'm wrong, please.  News doesn't look like news any more, a lot of the time, but like entertainment.  When i don't need to be entertained, but informed, it bothers me.


Today is

According to Hoyle Day -- death anniversary of Edmond Hoyle

Be Kind to Humankind Week:  Thoughtful Thursday

Birthday of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Blue Hill Fair -- Blue Hill, ME, US (beautiful "down to earth" country fair; through Labor Day)

Chop Suey Day

Day of Loose Talk -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (Patron of baptism, bird dealers, converts, convulsive children, cutters, epileptics, farmers, French Canadians, lambs, monastic life, motorways, printers, tailors; over 70 cities and countries around the world; against convulsions, epilepsy, hail and hailstorms, spasms)
     Head Day -- Iceland (a weather omen day; whatever today's weather, it will stay the same for at least 3 weeks)

International Day Against Nuclear Testing -- UN

International

Judgment Day -- according to "The Terminator"

Lemon Juice Day

Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival and Fair -- Morgan City, LA, US (celebrating the importance of the shrimping and petroleum industries in Louisiana, it includes one of the most unique children's villages among such events and a Blessing of the Fleet; through Labor Day)

More Herbs, Less Salt Day

Runic Half-Month Rad begins (Motion)

Slovak National Uprising Anniversary -- Slovakia


Special Notation:

Labor Day, shmabor day!
What a dumb day!
You hire some jerk,
Then send him away,
To celebrate work,
By playing all day!

Garfield the Cat

While i may not agree with his assessment of the importance of Labor Day, Garfield is right in that this weekend has become a time for play, as evidenced by the following celebrations that always occur on this weekend around the US*:

Benton Neighbor Day -- Benton, MO
Britt Draft Horse Show -- Britt, IA
Bumbershoot: Seattle's Music & Arts Festival -- Seattle, WA
Cal Farley's Boys Ranch Rodeo -- Boys Ranch, TX
Central City Rock 'n' Roll Cruise-in & Concert -- Central City, KY
Cleveland National Air Show -- Cleveland, OH
Clothesline Fair -- Prairie Grove, AR
Colombia River Cross Channel Swim -- Hood River, OR
Colorado Balloon Classic -- Colorado Springs, CO
Commonwheel Labor Day Weekend ARts and Crafts Festival -- Manitou Springs, CO
Daniel Boone Pioneer Days -- Winchester, KY
Eastern Idaho State Fair -- Blackfoot, ID
Fort Bridger Rendezvous -- Fort Bridger, WY
Great Bathtub Race -- Nome, AK
Great Grove Bed Race -- Coconut Grove, FL
Harvest Wine Celebration -- Livermore, CA
Hog Capital of the World Festival -- Kewanee, IL
Hoisington Celebration -- Hoisington, KS
Hopkinton State Fair -- Contoocook, NH,
Iroquois Arts Festival -- Howes Cave, NY
Johnson City Field Days -- Johnson City, NY
Jubilee Days Festival -- Zion, IL
Lifelight Outdoor Music Festival -- Worthing, SD
Mackinac Bridge Walk -- St. Ignace, MI
National Championship Chuckwagon Races -- Clinton, AR
National Hard Crab Derby and Fair -- Crisfield, MD
National Sweetcorn Festival -- Hoopeston, IL
Oatmeal Festival -- Bertram/Oatmeal, TX
Odyssey - A Greek Festival -- Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, Orange, CT
Old Threshers Reunion -- Mount Pleasant, IA
On the Waterfront -- Rockford, IL
Oregon Trail Rodeo -- Hastings, NE
Payson Golden Onion Days -- Payson, UT
Pennsylvania Arts & Crafts Colonial Festival -- Greensburg, PA
Santa-Cali-Gon Days Festival -- Independence, MO
Scandinavian Fest -- Budd Lake, NJ
Sta-Bil Nationals Championship Lawn Mower Race -- Delaware, OH
Snake River Duck Race -- Nome, AK
Taste of Colorado -- Denver, CO
Taste of Madison -- Madison, WI
Totah Festival -- Farmington, NM
Waikiki Roughwater Swim -- Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, HI
West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival -- Clarksburg, WV
Westfest Czech Heritage Festival -- West, TX
Wisconsin State Cow-Chip Throw -- Prairie du Sac, WI
Woodstock Fair -- Woodstock, CT
World Championship Barbecue Goat Cook-Off and Arts & Crafts Fair -- Brady, TX

*Some of these celebrations begin today, some tomorrow, some on Saturday, and all run through the Monday Labor Day Holiday.




Birthdays Today

Michael Jackson, 1958
Elliot Gould, 1938
John McCain, 1936
Richard Attenborough, 1923
Charlie "Bird" Parker, 1920
Isabel Sanford, 1917
Ingrid Bergman, 1915
Preston Sturges, 1898
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809
John Locke, 1632


Today in History

Era of Diocletian (Martyrs), the last major time of persecution for the early Christian churches, begins with Gen. Gaius Aurelius V Diocletianus Jovius becoming emperor of Rome, 284
Japan mints its first copper coins, 708
The last Incan King of Peru, Atahualpa, is executed by order of Francisco Pizarro, 1533
The first Indian "reservation" is formed by the New Jersey Legislature, 1758
Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction, 1831
The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of slavery in its empire, 1833
Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War, 1842
The first motorcycle is patented in Germany by Gottlieb Daimler, 1885
The chef of a visiting Chinese Ambassador invents "chop suey" in NYC, 1896
The Goodyear tire company is founded, 1898
The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers, 1907
Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California, 1911
The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, 1949
Speedy Gonzales makes his debut, 1953
The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, 1966
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party, 1991
Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, 2005