Round We Go

It seems the biggest, hottest trend in south Louisiana's current attempts to get traffic moving is to build roundabouts or traffic circles.  (No, our traffic isn't all that bad when compared to, say, L.A., but that doesn't help when the interstate is turned into a parking lot again, or there's one big accident in town and every other street slows because it's a major throughway, and everyone has to go around.)

They seem to be popping up all over, and wouldn't you know it, the people here just aren't quite sure what to do with them.

They aren't that difficult, but some people are stopping to get their bearings, or missing their turn off and having to go around and around until they figure out which side is what.

And then we wonder why our car insurance rates are so high.  But anyway.  One man who travels through the four lane traffic circle in a city a couple of hours north of here says he's always in the wrong lane when he needs to get off, and can't get over.  His wife just tells him he's a lousy driver, but they've been married for over 40 years, and she's always teasing him.  At least, i think she's teasing about that.

Speaking of going around, ringworm is going around again, with kittens.  The shelter now has 10 cases, and i'm battling the fungus among us here, hoping it clears up soon.  My current weapons are bleach water (6 parts water to one part bleach), grapefruit seed extract (50 drops in a quart of water), and apple cider vinegar.  If i hit them with all 3, i figure, sooner or later something will clear it up.

Little Girl is excited about the news now going around that J.K. Rowling is going to make her book Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them into a movie.  She says Rowling is taking control of it, writing, directing, and making sure it gets done the way she wants.  If that's so, i have to say i admire her, as such a thing would drive me around the bend.

And rumor around the SEC has it that a poll was taken among Alabama football fans, asking them which away game in 2014 (next season, not the current one being played) they are looking forward to the most.  Their answers supposedly broke down as follows:
Virginia Tech 7%
Ole Miss 6%
Arkansas 1%
Tennessee 7%
LSU 79%

Can we safely say that Alabama fans like coming to Louisiana?

Have a great Saturday, everyone, whether you hang around the house, or whatever you do.





 
Today is:

Aloha Festivals Keiki Ho'olaule'a -- Oahu, Hawai'i, US (preserving Hawai'ian culture, with games, keiki activities, performances, and more)

Battle of San Jacinto Day -- Nicaragua

Big Mac Shoreline Fall Scenic Bike Tour & Ride Across The Mackinac Bridge -- Mackinaw City, MI, US (a one-of-a-kind bike tour; through tomorrow)

Flax Scutching Festival -- Stahlstown, PA, US (through tomorrow; demonstrations of the tradition of making linen out of flax)

Cochabamba Day -- Cochabamba, Bolivia

Eat a Hoagie Day

Eleven Days of Global Unity -- Day 4, Economic Justice (sponsored by We, the World)

Feast of the Triumph of the Cross/Elevation of the Life Giving Cross/Holy Cross Day -- Christian

Festivals and Matsuri of Japan -- several throughout Japan, today and for the next several, most as harvest festivals or traditional horseback archery rituals)
       including the O Sannomiya Autumn Festival, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Festival, Tono Matsuri, Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri, Tsurugaoka-hachimangu Reitasai, Yachi Donga Festival, and Furusato Hyappei Festival

Hug a Crabby Stranger Day -- okay, as long as i don't end up on the evening news

International Drive Your Studebaker Day -- an official event of the Studebaker Drivers Club Inc. (wish i could!)

National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day

National Iguana Awareness Day 2013

Nutting Day -- British Isles tradition, the hazelnuts are supposed to be perfectly ripe on this day

On the Waterfront Swap Meet and Car Show -- St. Ignace, MI, US (with a car show, truck show, toy show, and swap meet, there's something for everyone! through tomorrow)

Pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln -- Switzerland

St. Notburga's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, husbandmen, peasants, restaurant servers)

Thimphu Tsechu -- Thimphu, Bhutan (Drukpa Buddhism festival; through Monday)

Unclear Ideas Display -- Fairy Calendar (Imps celebration)

Yom Kippur -- Judaism (began sundown yesterday, ends sundown today)


Birthdays Today:

Wendy Thomas, 1961 (Namesake of Wendy's Hamburgers)
Sam Neill, 1947
Joey Heatherton, 1944
Nicol Williamson, 1938
Walter Koenig, 1936
Harve Presnell, 1933
Clayton Moore, 1914
Ivan Pallov, 1849



Today in History:

Domitian becomes emperor of Rome upon the death of his brother Titus, 81
Harun al-Rashid beomes Abbasid Caliph upon the death of his brother, al-Hadi, 786
The first lighthouse in the US, in Boston, is lit, 1716
George Frederick Handel finishes "Messiah" oratorio, after working on it non-stop for 23 days, 1741
Napoleon occupies Moscow; fires begin that will not be fully extinguished for 5 days, 1812
Francis Scott Key witnesses the battle which inspires him to write "The Defense of Fort McHenry", later retitled "The Star Spangled Banner", 1814
George K Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee patents typewriter ribbon, 1886
President of the United States William McKinley dies after an assassination attempt on September 6, and is succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt, 1901
Groundbreaking for the United Nations headquarters in New York City, 1948
The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it, 1959
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded, 1960
The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI, 1975
President-elect of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, is assassinated, 1982
Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a hot air balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean, 1984
The Toronto Blue Jays set a record for the most home runs in a single game, belting 10 of them, 1987
Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations, 1999
Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks; a similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital, 2001
In a referendum, Estonia approves joining the European Union, 2003