Silly Sunday: Comparisons Work to a Degree

"Mom, mom, mom, mom!"  #2 Son came in very from work very excited.  "Guess what!  I've already been given a twenty-five cent an hour raise for my good work, and they said that within two months i'm going to be a crew chief/trainer, and if I keep doing such good work, they're going to move me into management in 6-8 months!"

Great job! i told him.  But aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself?  What about culinary school?

"Yeah, I still want to do that, but I think it would be great if I had management experience when I went into it."

Remember, too, you still have to get that high school diploma, i reminded him.

"Yes, that's very important.  I'm not going to forget, and neither are they.  In fact, they pay you more if you stay in school and get good grades, so I want the diploma, and some work experience at management, and then go into culinary school later.  I'm not going to skip out on getting my degrees."

Sounds like a good plan, i told him.

This reminds me of a joke.

Tee Boudreaux was in danger of flunkin' out of da high school, so his daddy decide to have a talk wit' him.

"Son," said Boudreaux, "you ought to be ashamed!  You makin' de family look bad!  You need to study and do better, boy!

"Mais, I know dat," Tee hung his head.  "But I don' like to read and study!"

"Shame on you, boy!" Boudreaux said.  "Don' you know dat some people in dis world would love to have de chance to go to school an' learn?  T'ink about Abraham Lincoln.  When he was your age, he would stay up and study half the night by de light from a candle!  He had to walk to school, an' dere weren't no air condition in the class, and sometime he don' have de books he want, so he walk miles to get a book!  An' look at you, you got a bus to school an' air condition an' a good lunch dere an' free books!  You ought to be ashamed you not takin' 'vantage of all dat!"

"Mais, I know dat!" Tee answered.  "But I also know dat by de time Lincoln was your age, he was de President!  Now who's shamin' de family!"


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)

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)

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)

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!

World Meteorological Day -- UN


Anniversaries Today:

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


Birthdays Today:

Michelle Monaghan, 1976
Keri Russell, 1976
Richard Grieco, 1965
Amanda Plummer, 1957
Chaka Khan, 1953
Louie Anderson, 1953
Roger Bannister, 1929
Wernher Von Braun, 1912
Akira Kurosawa, 1910
Joan Crawford, 1905


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Bold and the Beautiful"(TV), 1987
"Detective Story"(Play), 1950
"Truth or Consequences"(Radio), 1940


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
In Tokyo, the Metropolitan Government Bureau of Waterworks reports that radioactive iodine in city tap water is two times the recommended level for infants, 2011