Being

"Doggone cat!" #1 Son was yelling as he came running through the kitchen, chasing Dansig.

What's wrong? i asked.

"That insane cat!  He keeps getting on my dresser and falling behind it, and he can't get out!  As soon as I rescue him, he goes right back up there!"

You would think he would learn, i noted.

"He doesn't.  Here!"  He saw his brother coming, and scooped the cat up, handing him to #2 Son.  "Your insane cat keeps getting stuck behind my dresser!"

"There's no room behind your dresser," #2 Son said.  "It's right up against the wall."

"That's why he gets stuck!" #1 Son said.

"Maybe he's trying to get attention," Bigger Girl said, coming in to get breakfast.  "After all, if a creature isn't acknowledged, does it exist?"

Meaning what? i asked.

"Well, if a creature existed and had consciousness, but there was no other consciousness to note its existence, does it really exist?  Is to be, to be acknowledged?  Maybe that's why famous people get addicted to fame, they are trying to prove their existence.  And maybe that crazy cat doesn't feel like he exists unless he's got someone rescuing him, or he's bugging someone."

Maybe, i said, somewhat dubious.

"Well, I don't care why, I just want him to stay out from behind my dresser," #1 Son said, heading out to work.

"Oh, and mom, I made a goals list for this year.  It has 50 things on it, and I might not get to all of them, but I do want to learn CPR and go visit the place where Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed.  Those two are a must!  Also, I want to go visit the leper colonly.  Those people have some amazing experiences to tell about!"

Quite a list of things to do, i said drily.  Somehow i get the feeling she's going to get to it, too.

 
Today is:

Appreciate a Dragon Day -- share stories of your favorite dragons from literature; begun by author Danita K. Paul

Concordia --  Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring the goddess of harmonious relations)

Day of Offerings to the Shemsu of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo -- Espace de Fontvielle, Monte Carlo (the best circus acts and performers from five continents; through the 26th)

Full Wolf Moon -- the wolves howl hungrily during this cold month, sometimes called the Old Moon or the Yule Moon
     Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
     Mahayana New Year -- Buddhist
     Pyatho Full Moon -- Myanmar (traditionally the time of equestrian festivals)
     Thorrablot/Thurseblot -- Ancient Norse Calendar (feast honoring Thor, guardian of Midgard, at the first full moon of the new year)
     Thaipusam/Thaipoosam Cavadee -- Tamil People; Malaysia; Mauritius (Tamil Hindu multi-day celebration of the birth of the god Murugan)

Inflatable Tire Day -- birth anniversary of Andre Michelin

International Hot and Spicy Food Day

Laurent Kabila -- Democratic Republic of the Congo (Heroes' Day)

National Day of Peace -- El Salvador (anniversary of 1992 peace treaty)

National Fig Newton Day

National Good Teen Day -- which really is most of them, isn't it

National Nothing Day -- created by newspaperman Harold Pullman Coffin in 1973 “to provide Americans with one national day when they can just sit without celebrating, observing or honoring anything.”

National Work At Home With Your Spouse Day -- internet generated; try if you dare, i won't, as much as i love him, i'd have to kill him.

National Religious Freedom Day -- US (anniversary of the passage, in 1786, of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom)

Nosso Senhor do Bonfim Festival -- Salvador, Brazil (Our Lord of the Happy Ending Festival, at the church by that name; through the 26th)

Religious Freedom Day -- US (in 1786, the Virginia legislature adopted a statute guaranteeing religious freedom to citizens of that state, and protecting them from discrimination for their religious choices)

St. Anthony's Eve -- Abruzzo, Italy (Fires of Saint Anthony -- Anthony the Great)

St. Honratus of Arles' Day (Patron for rain; against drought, misfortune)

Sundance Film Festival -- Park City, UT, US (the premier US independent films festival; through the 26th)

Teacher's Day -- Thailand

There's No Business Like Show Business Day -- Ethel Merman's Birth Anniversary!

Tu B'Shvat -- Judaism ("New Year of the Trees", began yesterday at sunset)

Uzhavar Thirunal -- TN, India (Farmer's Day portion of the Pongal celebrations)

Women in Blue Jeans Conference -- Mitchell, SD, US (celebrating women in agriculture; through tomorrow)



Birthday's Today:

Kate Moss, 1974
Sade, 1959
Debbie Allen, 1950
John Carpenter, 1948
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, 1947
Ronnie Milsap, 1944
A.J. Foyt, 1935
Dian Fossey, 1932
Dizzy Dean, 1911
Ethel Merman, 1908
Frank Zamboni, 1901
Harry Carey, Sr., 1878
Robert W. Service, 1874 (Poet, The Cremation of Sam McGee)
Andre Michelin, 1853


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hello, Dolly"(Musical), 1964
"A Pastoral Symphony"(Ralph Vaughan Williams' third symphony), 1922


Today in History:

The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Casesar Octavian by the Roman Senate, BC27
The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison, 550
A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt, 1362
The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy, 1412
The first grammar of a modern language, in the Spanish language, is presented to Queen Isabella, 1492
Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia, 1547
English parliament passes laws against Catholicism, 1581
The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, 1605
The Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks, 1776
The Commonwealth of Virginia enacted the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson, 1786
The refrigerator car is patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit, 1868
The Pendleton Act creates the basis of US Civil Service system, 1883
The British explorer Ernest Shackleton finds magnetic south pole, 1909
The British House of Commons accepts Home-Rule for Ireland, 1913
Writer Maksim Gorki returns to Russia, 1914
The US ratifies the constitutional amendment on Prohibition, to take effect one year later, 1919
The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, 1920
The first photo finish camera installed at Hialeah Race track in Hialeah Florida, 1936
Benny Goodman plays the first jazz performance at Carnegie Hall, 1938
Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard, 1942
Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk, 1969
Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects, 1970
The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt, 1979
First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force., 1986
El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City ending the 12-year Salvadoran civil war , 1992
The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban, 2002
The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107, but disintegrates 16 days later on reentry, 2003
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president, becoming Africa's first female elected head of state, 2006