Sea of Blue

This is another one for Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, who so graciously hosts Feline Friday.

A couple of weeks ago, he wrote about all who have died in active military service, and remembering them with a wreath.

Now it's a blue ribbon in honor of police officers.

My mother, a staunch Catholic, has a bumper sticker that reads, "I am grateful for the thousands of GOOD priests."  She's right, in that the bad apples and sensational press make so many forget the ones who quietly do their jobs, and do it right.

These days, police officers, whose families just hope they will come home after each shift, face a lot of the same thing.  Yes, there are those who are brutes who went into this job so they could legally do what they like doing, brutalize people.  They, i like to believe, are the minority.

Last week, we had rEcess at our church.  After it was over, all the disabled kids had been picked up by parents, the building cleaned, and all of us were leaving, our leader got a call from her brother.  He was drunk, upset that his girlfriend wouldn't let him see their child, upset she wouldn't move to another state with him where he had a good job, and he told her, essentially, that he was going to end it all.  He said he would, when his girlfriend called police, point a gun at them, and let them go ahead and kill him.

A couple of hours later, that's what happened.  His car was parked in front of his girlfriend's house, and he wouldn't leave.  She called the police.  He didn't want to shoot anyone, he wanted to die, so he pointed the weapon at them and left them no choice.

Police officers have one of the toughest jobs in the world.  Yes, there are bad apples.  Yes, we probably do need body cameras on all of them for everyone's protection.  Yes, they are human and make mistakes.

Most are not villains, though, and i hope all of them on duty today come home safely tonight.  Sadly, the statistics tell us, every 58 hours on average, one will not.

Today is:

50 Ways To Leave Your Lover Day -- marking the debut of the song, think of 50 ways to stay with the one you love, and do one!

BPT Remembrance Day -- try to remember what breakfast was like BPT (before Pop-Tarts)

Cathode Ray Day -- the kinescope (cathode ray tube) was patented by Vladimir Zworykin on this day in 1938

Dot Your I's With Smileys Day -- a great internet generated idea, if you are a 9-year-old girl

Fete des Cafres -- Reunion (Abolition Day)

Go Caroling Day -- if you have the voice for it, enjoy

Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Bjugnakraekir -- Sausage-pilferer, who will steal any kind of sausage you don't manage to hide from him

International Human Solidarity Day -- UN

Louisiana Purchase Day -- US

Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day -- Macau

Mudd Day -- for Samuel Mudd, the doctor who accidentally treated a disguised John Wilkes Boothe after he assassinated Lincoln; don't hang your head in shame if your name is Mudd!  Today is your day.

National Fried Shrimp Day

National Sangria Day (If you still aren't ready for Christmas, you might need it.)

Old St. Thomas' Eve -- St. Thomas, whose feast is now in July, was formerly on Dec. 21, and the evening before used for prognostication; related observance
     Tammasmass E'en -- Orkney Islands, UK (from tonight until Yule, no work was undertaken or amusements enjoyed after sunset; all alemaking for the Yule celebrations had to be done by this day

Snowflake-Riding Championships -- Fairy Calendar (no Goblins allowed!)

St. Dominic of Silos' Day (Patron of captives, pregnant women, prisoners, and shepherds; against hydrophobia, insects, mad dogs, and rabies)

Try to Remember Where You Hid The Christmas Gifts Day -- it's getting close, and you don't want to have to go out at the last minute and buy more; sponsored by "Marlar in the Morning," QFL-101 Radio, Rockford, Illinois

Winter Solstice Eve


Anniversary Today:

Donald Trump weds Marla Maples, 1993
Montgomery Bus Boycott ends, 1956


Birthdays Today:

Jonah Hill, 1983
David Cook, 1982
Billy Bragg, 1957
Jenny Agutter, 1952
Uri Geller, 1946
Peter Criss, 1945
William Julius Wilson, 1935
John Hillerman, 1932
David Levine, 1926
George Roy Hill, 1922
Irene Dunne, 1898
Susanne K. Langer, 1895
Robert Gordon Menzies, 1894
Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman, 1886
Wesley Branch Rickey, 1881
Harvey Firestone, 1868


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Sunshine Boys"(Play), 1972
"The Dating Game"(TV), 1965
It's a Wonderful Life(Film), 1946


Today in History:

Vespasian enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor, 69
Richard the Lionheart is captured in Vienna, 1192
Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta, 1522
Peter the Great orders the Russian New Year changed from Sept 1 to Jan 1, 1699
The Louisiana Purchase is formally transferred from France to US for $27M, 1803
The international cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls, 1883
North America's longest railway, at 50,000km, the Canadian National Railways, is established, 1919
The first international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Quebec, 1928
The cathode-ray tube is patented by Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin, 1938
Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom, 1955
Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations, 1977
NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X, 1996
US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 2005
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days, 2007

In Cairo, thousands of Egyptian women demonstrate against military police for abuse against female demonstrators in Tahir Square, 2011