What do you want to be?

Note:  If Suldog sent you, you are probably looking for Thanksgiving Comes First.  You are also more than welcome to read today's meanderings while you are here.



"Mom, I've decided what I'm going to do at school on Hallowe'en."  Bigger Girl came in with a smile.

What? i asked.  Didn't you tell me that you were going as Janis Joplin this year?

"That's what I'm going as for the party at Will's place, and when I go with Muriel to take her daughter to the zoo.  But when I go to school that day, I'm going to go as a film reference.  I'm going to wear my lacey shirt and my lace gloves, and have this glass bottle on a chain around my neck.  The label will say 'Arsenic.'  Get it?  I'm referencing the film Arsenic and Old Lace!"

Very good, i told her.

"It will be a real party at Will's, too, not just the get togethers he calls parties each weekend.  I'm sorry, but I don't consider those real parties.  A bunch of people sitting around playing video games isn't a party, and I don't care how many snacks you serve!"

"You are going trick or treating at the zoo with Muriel and her daughter?  Take me!  Take me!  I haven't been in so long!"  Little Girl had walked in from school, and she's right, i haven't taken them to trick or treat at the zoo since they got past the age limit.

"Okay, you can come," Bigger Girl said.  "Have you decided what you are going to be?"

"Yes.  I'm going to wear my suit and tie, with a sign around my neck that says, 'Closed.'  I'm going as the US Government!"

This is how i pay for my warped sense of humor, i guess, by having kids as crazy as i am.


Today is:

A Family Hallowe'en -- Billings Farm and Museum, Woodstock, VT, US (a great time for all)

American Beer Day

Big Bang Day -- London, England

Boxer Shorts Day -- ???????

Cernova Tragedy Day -- Slovakia

Cranky Co-Worker's Day -- because we all have occasional bad days; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Daylight Saving Time ends -- Albania; Andorra; Austria; Azerbaijan; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovena; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar; Greece; Greenland (some areas); Holy See; Hungary; Ireland; Isle of Man; Israel; Italy; Kosovo; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Mali; Mexico (most areas); Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; Ukraine; Western Sahara

Feast of Osiris in Abydos -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Good Bear Day -- on Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, celebrating the stuffed toy created in his honor

Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade -- Long Beach, CA, US (dress up your dog and have a howling good time)

Independence Day -- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines(1979); Turkmenistan(1991)

Mother-in-Law Day -- a day to honor good Mothers-in-Law for their contributions to their families and for enduring all the bad jokes; if you have a lousy one, go listen to Ernie K-Doe's song

National Potato Day

Navy Day -- US (on T.R.'s birth anniversary)

Presidential Election Day -- Georgia

Radio Day -- US (US Commerce Dept. issued the first broadcasting license this date in 1920)

Reformation Day/Reformation Sunday -- Protestant Christian (obs.)

St. Frumentius' Day (Patron of Abyssinia; Ethiopia)

Sylvia Plath Day

Tunch Puddling -- Fairy Calendar (a contest of throwing twigs in a pond -- awards are for artistically thrown twigs and throwing style, among other things)

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage -- International

World Occupational Therapy Day -- thank those hard working OT's


Anniversary Today:

The NYC Subway begins operation, 1904


Birthdays Today:

Jayne Kennedy, 1951
Carrie Snodgrass, 1946
John Cleese, 1939
Ruby Dee, 1924
Roy Lichtenstein, 1923
Bette Babray, 1920
Dylan Thomas, 1914
Emily Post, 1872
Theodore Roosevelt, 1858
Niccolo Paganini, 1782
Captain James Cook, 1728
Erasmus, 1466


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Walt Disney/Wonderful World of Color/Wonderful World of Disney, 1954 (the show had several different names over the years, but even when it switched stations, it was still the same show)


Today in History:

Constantine the Great is said to have received his Vision of the Cross, 312
Founding of the city of Amsterdam, 1275
Founding of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1682
US Navy forms, 1775
Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated, 1838
R.H. Macy & Co. opens its first store, on 6th Ave. in NYC, 1858
Boss Tweed is arrested, 1871
The first underground New York City Subway line opens, 1904
The first published reference to "jazz" appears, in Variety, 1916
Chuhei Numbu of Japan sets the long jump record at 26' 2 1/2", 1931
"You Bet Your Life," with Groucho Marx, premiers on ABC radio, 1947*
Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force, 1954
Mauritania and Mongolia join the United Nations, 1961
The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang, 1986
The U.S. prison population tops 1 million for the first time in American history, 1994
Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified, 1994
Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown, 1997
The Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in 86 years, 2004
The SSETI Express micro-satellite is successfully launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, 2005


*(Ultimate result of this a few years later is, of course, the funniest line ever on tv, when a man with 8 kids admitted to Mr. Marx that he did indeed love his wife, and Groucho countered with, "I love my cigar, too, but I take it out of my mouth sometimes!")