(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Proud

Red-Headed Alec has been helping with some organizing and furniture tetris around here.  He prides himself on making shelves look nice.  Here's the china hutch now:

He's proud of the job well done!

Today is

Autistic Pride Day -- an Aspies for Freedom initiative; shifting the view from "disease" to "different"

Constitution Day / National Day -- Seychelles

Eid el-Galaa -- Egypt (Evacuation Day; final withdrawal of British this date in 1956)

Foundation Day -- Benguet, Philippines

Going Forth of Neith Along the River -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (goddess of war and hunting; date approximate)

Go Fishing Day -- anniversary of the first American fly-casting tournament this day in 1861 in Utica, NY

Ice Cream Days -- LeMars, IA, US (the home of Wells's Blue Bunny Ice Cream calls itself the Ice Cream Capital of the World and has a parade, basketball tournament, children's activities, fishing derby, and more along with tons of ice cream; through Saturday)

International Picnic Day

International Sushi Day

Inti Raymi Festival -- Cusco, Peru (traditional Inca sun worship festival, through the 24th, which is the biggest and best day)

National Cherry Tart Day

National Splurge Day -- place the blame here

Queen Mother's Birthday -- Cambodia (Ex-Queen Norodom Monineath)

Sonoma-Marin Fair and World’s Ugliest Dog Contest® -- Petaluma, CA, US (livestock exhibitions, wine gardens, demolition derby, Ugly Dog Contest, and more; through Sunday)

St. Gregory of Fragalata's Day (Patron of Fragalata, Sicily)

St. Osanna Andreasi's Day (Patron of school girls)

Tiger-Get-By's Birthday -- Fairy Calendar

Waterloo Day -- UK (no longer an official holiday, but still of historic importance)


Birthdays Today:

Eddie Cibrian, 1973
Nathan Morris, 1971
Richard Powers, 1957
Carol Kane, 1952
Isabella Rossellini, 1952
Roger Ebert, 1942
Paul McCartney, 1942
Lou Brock, 1939
John D. Rockefeller IV, 1937
Tom Wicker, 1926
Donald Keene, 1922
Red Adair, 1915
Sammy Cahn, 1913
Sylvia Field Porter, 1913
E.G. Marshall, 1910
Bud Collyer, 1908
James Kern "Kay" Kyser, 1905
Jeanette MacDonald, 1903
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaievna Romanova of Russia, 1901
George Herbert Leigh Mallory, 1886
Henry Clay Folger, Jr., 1857
E.W. Scripps, 1854


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Archipelago S"(Takemitsu orchestral work), 1993
"Der Freischütz/The Marksman"(Opera, Weber Op. 77, J. 277), 1821


Today in History:

Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang Dynasty rule over China, 618
Five monks from Canterbury report seeing "two horns of light" on the shaded side of the moon, probably witnessing the meteor impact formation of the Giordano Bruno crater, 1178
The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature, 1264
French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay, 1429
Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island, 1767
The U.S. Congress  declares war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1812
The Battle of Waterloo leads to Napoleon Bonaparte abdicating the throne of France for the second and last time, 1815
Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory, 1858
Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 (US) for attempting to vote in the prior year's US presidential election, 1873
Empress Dowager Longyu of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families, 1900
Aviator  Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly as a passenger in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, 1928
The "Finest Hour" speech is delivered by Winston Churchill, 1940
The Republic of Egypt is declared and the monarchy is abolished, 1953
Governor of Louisiana Earl K. Long is committed to a state mental hospital; he responds by having the hospital's director fired and replaced with a crony who proceeds to proclaim him perfectly sane, 1959
The AIDS epidemic is formally recognized by medical professionals in San Francisco, California, 1981
Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, 1983
Kazakhstan launches its first satellite, KazSat, 2006
Sequoia, IMB's Blue Gene/Q system installed at the Department of Energy becomes the world's fastest supercomputer, 2012
New data reveals that over 280 previously unknown craters exist on the Moon, 2013